Three people died after a possible tornado hit North Carolina on Tuesday night, destroying at least 50 homes and leaving thousands without power due to a winter storm that is hitting the south and middle of the country, officials said. .
The suspect turned into Brunswick County, North Carolina, landed just before midnight, injuring at least ten people, Brunswick County emergency services said.
The hardest hit area was in the coastal community of Seaside, about 72 kilometers southwest of Wilmington, where many houses were torn from their foundations and trees were broken in half, according to the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office.
Power lines also went down, leaving thousands without power, Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation said.
Kate Gentle of Shallotte told NBC News on Tuesday that the storm was “absolutely crazy”.
“I never felt a storm under my feet,” she said. “The floor was vibrating.”
County emergency management officials said there were reports of people trapped in homes or afraid to disappear during the start of rescue operations.
Rescuers, firefighters and police were on site all night assessing the damage and removing the debris.
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The National Weather Service will survey the damage on Tuesday to determine whether a tornado has hit the area.
The deaths occurred in the wake of a major storm that is striking areas of the country with ice, snow and freezing rain.
In Texas, nearly 4 million people woke up without power because the state’s power grid was unable to meet residents’ demand for energy, according to poweroutage.us.
Two people, including a child, died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was used to generate energy for heating, Houston police said.
The winter storm knocked snow and ice from Arkansas to Indiana, bringing record temperatures from Oklahoma City to Iron Range in Minnesota, where thermometers dropped to minus 38, the Weather Service said.
According to the forecast, winter conditions were expected from Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and Maine. The storm is due to hit the northeast on Tuesday, the Meteorological Service said.
